Epic Games generally does a really good job of changing things for Fortnite. They usually walk the line of changing too often versus leaving it stale pretty well, which is a huge reason the game is still even being played seven years later, while the vast majority of battle royales have faded into oblivion. They know what they’re doing.
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However, every once in a while, Epic makes head-scratching decisions. They change the map every season, though there are always some holdovers. Sometimes, this makes very little sense. There are a few POIs in the latest season that just boggle the mind and probably should’ve been removed when the update went live on August 7th.
Fortnite Has Some Strange POIs Still
Every Fortnite season has a theme. It might be collaborative, like the Star Wars or Marvel-themed seasons that have been done time and again. It might also just be thematic, like the Greek-themed season from Chapter 5. The landmarks, POIs, and layouts of the map generally fit the theme pretty well, which helps to increase the immersion and really make players feel like this is maybe a little different of a game than the previous season.
As mentioned, that’s been crucial to Fortnite‘s seemingly never-ending success. That’s what makes it so curious when, like in Chapter 6 Season 4, there are some really odd holdovers. This happens quite a lot, but you’d think that Epic would eventually get the message and stop leaving POIs too long. They didn’t for this season, sadly.
Take a look at the new Fortnite map that just came out. Why are there still Star Wars locations? Why is Shogun’s Solitude still here? Shogun’s Solitude was introduced in Chapter 6 Season 1, and it fit the theme of that season (Demon Warriors). It does not fit the new theme for Season 4, and it honestly didn’t fit the Seasons 2 or 3 themes that well, either. Why has it persisted? It’s not like it’s Tilted Towers or Retail Row.
The Star Wars locations are even more puzzling. On the one hand, they are much more recent to the game than Shogun’s Solitude, but they’re also so out of place now. That would be like keeping Stark Industries in after the Marvel season in Chapter 2. It just doesn’t fit.
Outpost Enclave and First Order Base were really good locations during the previous season, but not anymore. Now, they’re just sitting out on the edge of the map being useless, which is kind of the same thing that’s happening to Shogun’s Solitude. Corners of the map are vital for players who prefer to loot up and explore before being thrown into the heat of the battle (guilty as charged), but now these POIs are just not that useful to drop at.
Help is Fortunately on the Way
Despite that being a major issue, it won’t last long. This current chapter won’t last very much longer, and the entire map should get overhauled. We probably won’t see any of these POIs ever again, let alone see them immediately on a brand-new island. Rarely has anything survived a chapter switch.
Still, it is particularly surprising to see these still around. Maybe Epic Games just got lazy or couldn’t come up with any good locations, so they left them. This is a recurring theme, unfortunately. Epic Games has more often left POIs too long than not long enough. Only a few, like Tilted Towers and Retail Row, have stuck around and not overstayed their welcome.
For example, the Greek POIs from Chapter 5 Season 2, like Mount Olympus and The Underworld, stayed around way too long. Those didn’t make a bit of sense outside their one season of relevancy, and yet they remained in subsequent seasons. Chapter 5 Season 3 was a Mad Max-style wasteland all about the desert, but there was still a giant statue over Mount Olympus that stuck out like a sore thumb.
Maybe Epic will never learn its lesson, but at least we won’t have to put up with a lackluster map that has a few too many misplaced POIs much longer. Then, some others will get put into rotation, and we’ll have to have this conversation a couple of seasons from now again.
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